Homemade Pickle Relish

I love a good summer bbq, even a virtual one. And this week the SoCal Lady Bloggers are hosting a bbq all over Southern California. I thought long and hard about what recipe I could contribute and began thinking about my favorite things to eat at a bbq and realized that some of my favorite summer memories revolve around a simple grilled hot dog.

One of my favorite things to pair with a hot dog (or hamburger for that matter) is pickle relish – sweet, dill, any kind at all. No one in my house loves pickle reslish nearly as much as I do, so I’m free to buy any kind I like. Yay! Go me. And then I had an epiphanie – it’s summer, cucumbers are abundant, why not make my own damn pickle relish. This led me to impulse buying a book on canning which is awesome and sure to inspire many more projects this summer.

This is a super awesomly tart relish.

HOMEMADE PICKLE RELISH

1 pound cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced

1 small (4 ounce) onion, diced

1/4 cup salt

1 1/2 cups cider vinegar

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 water

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/4 teaspoon cumin

Mix cucumber, onion and salt in a small bowl and let sit for 2 hours.

Combine vinegar, sugar, water, garlic and spices in a pot of med-high heat and bring to a boil, making sure all sugar is dissolved.

Add cucumbers-onion mixture , bring back to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Turn off heat and let cool.

Put in a jar or other container with a lid and keep in the fridge for up to three weeks.

I found it easiest to use a slotted spoon to get the bulk of the vegetable mixture in the jar and then top off with brine. I had some remaining brine that I just discarded. My yield was one pint jar.

Note: this was adapted from Put ’em Up! and is for the refrigerator method only. That book is amazing and the original recipe has different spices and bell peppers so check it out too. I don’t know if I made too many changes to the recipe for it to still be shelf-stable long term, so please don’t can with this recipe.

I almost bought that but instead bought another canning book. Which I haven’t done anything in but plan on soon.
I only eat pickle relish in tuna fish sandwich but I bet that would be really good in it!